In early and mid-1990s, implant operation was a very special and scarce clinical area to practicing dentists. In 2000s, the implant industry made a rapid progress in Korea in an industrial and clinical sense for about 10 years, and thus now implant operation is not a special operation any more, and most of dentists are performing implant operation. However, there are still some specific areas of the implant operation, where many dentists are not satisfied, and one of them is implanting maxillary sinus bone.
Maxillary sinus bone implant operation was started in 1960s, and many methods and tools have been developed, but there are still many limitations depending on the proficiency of the dentist and the state of the patient, which have become a stumbling stone to popularization of implant operation.
The subantral membrane is connected with the respiratory organs (nose) to adjust moisture within the nasal cavity, and controls resonance when speaking. When performing implant operation to a patient whose thickness of subantral alveolar bone is thin, the scheme of implant operation may be divided into a lateral approach scheme and a crestal approach scheme.
The lateral approach scheme has good approachability and visibility of the tool, and thus has an advantage capable of separation while controlling the sinus membrane, but because the operated region is wide, the patient's injury increases, various complications (much bleeding, severe adema, acute maxillary sinus inflammation, etc.) may occur.
Further, bone grafting materials may need to be excessively used, and an economic burden may increase due to the needs of materials such as blocking membranes. Further, the biggest problems may be the extension of the operation time and the need of proficiency of the dentist (realistically, only some dentists are able to perform the operation well).
The crestal approach scheme has an advantage that the operated region is small and the operation is simple, but it requires the complicated tool use, and is a completely blind scheme. Further, the approachability of the tool is low, and thus the sinus membrane cannot be directly controlled, thereby increasing the possibility of rupture by concentration of the force. Further, the regulation of the grafting materials is difficult, and thus the self-rupture by the excessive swelling of the sinus membrane may occur, and the bone grafting materials are inserted into a portion which is not the fixture placement portion.
According to a conventional art, when performing implant operation to a patient having a thin subantral alveolar bone, the gum may be opened and the subantral alveolar bone is opened by drilling. Then artificial bone of a certain thickness is grafted to form a desired thickness, and then the implant may be implanted, which is inconvenient. Hence, recently, a complicated operation has been performed to preserve the subantral membrane and the subantral low-cortex alveolar bone as much as possible at the implant operation. However, this method also requires time for fixing the artificial bone and the patient's pain lasts for a long time, and thus there may be many studies to resolve this problem.
For example, Korean patent Publication No. 1020100031273 discloses a maxillary sinus and bone picker which includes an axis 1 including a connection groove 10 at one side, and a cylindrical body (bone picker) 20 including a space therein, wherein the body 20 includes a plurality of cooling water incoming groove 21 which are vertically formed at the side of the edge, a damaged bone removing blade 22 which is spirally projected at one middle end of the side of the body 20, and a cutting unit 23 which is coated by diamond power of micrometer diameter on the lower border.
Korean patent Publication No. 100660375 discloses an implant drill mounted on a dental general hand piece, in which a cutting groove is formed at the outer circumference of the cylindrical body, and a central axis is provided. Further, the implant drill is mounted to be free from the rotation of the drill at the drill end of the body.
Korean patent Publication No. 100838942 discloses a drill including a contact surface having a curved edge which contacts the inner membrane of the maxillary sinus, and a bone-maintaining space for storing and discharging bone grafts. Here, the bone-maintaining space is formed by the connection of the first inner sidewall with the second inner sidewall facing the first inner sidewall, and the first inner sidewall further includes a cutting surface which is exposed in a cutting direction as the first inner sidewall is formed higher than the second inner sidewall.
Korean patent Publication No. 10094573 discloses a subantral membrane bone grafting assembly for artificial bone at the subantral membrane. The subantral membrane bone grafting assembly includes an external drum which is inserted into a hole (H) of an alveolar bone 20, a first internal drum 50 which is inserted into a hollow part 40 of the external drum is formed to contain artificial bone in a depressed portion 51 formed at one end, a cap 70 having a cap magnetic force unit 73 which has the polarity opposite to that of the internal drum magnetic force unit 53 of the first internal drum 50, an external drum driver 60 which is connected to the external drum and inserts the external drum 40 into the alveolar bone, and a second internal drum 80 which is connected to the external drum, is inserted into the hollow part of the external drum, and lifts the subantral membrane.
Korean patent Publication No. 1020100110001 discloses a bone tissue reamer including a tool body 22 which is formed in a manner that the diameter gradually increases from the outer circumference of the upper end to the outer circumference of the lower end, a head 24 which is formed at the upper part of the tool body 22 and has a round (R) shape for preventing the damage of the subantral membrane at the time of contact with the subantral membrane 30 to life the maxillary sinus, and a water supply hole 28 which is formed at intervals of 120° at the outer circumference of the upper part of the tool body 22, and penetrates a support pole 40, which is formed at the lower part of the tool body 22, and the tool body 22, in which the end of the water supply hole is diverted into three directions.
Korean patent Publication No. 200442905 discloses a drilling device for removing bone capable of protecting soft tissue used when drilling an alveolar bone. The drilling device includes a shank unit which is inserted into the drilling device and is fixed, a body unit which is integrally formed with the shank unit and has a space therein, and an end unit which includes a fixing plate formed inside a space within the body unit, a projected drill blade, and a brush.